Puducherry minister mired in proxy exam case sacked

Puducherry education minister PML Kalyanasundaram facing charges of impersonation in the SSLC public exam was on Saturday sacked from the cabinet by the Union Territory chief minister N Rangasamy.

Kalyanasundaram, who has been evading arrest by Tamil Nadu police since Tuesday, faced the axe nearly a month after he was accused of engaging a proxy to write his SSLC examination at a centre in the neighbouring state.

Rangasamy wrote a letter to Lt Governor Iqbal Singh recommending removal of Kalayanasundaram, whose anticipatory bail application was rejected by the Madras high court on November 8, Secretary to Lt Governor R. Udipta Ray told PTI.

He said the Lt Governor, who was now in his home town of Jalandhar, was informed of the development. The chief minister's letter would be forwarded to Union Home Ministry as is required under rules governing the Union Territory.

A case has been registered against Kalyanasundaram by the Villupuram district police in Tamil Nadu on a complaint from education authorities for alleged impersonation in writing the SSLC board examination in September.

A magistrate court in Tindivanam in Tamil Nadu on Friday adjourned hearing in the case to November 25 after the absconding Minister failed to appear before it.

A school dropout, Kalyanasundaram was inducted as minister in the Rangasamy-led AINRC Ministry on June 8 in its first expansion.

He has come under attack from opposition Congress, AIADMK and the CPI who had questioned his continuance in the ministry in the wake of the scandal.

With the easing out of Kalyanasundaram, the strength of the nearly five-month old Rangasamy Ministry has come down to five.